Hilmes, Rolf Leopard 1

Germany's Post-WWII Panzer

An Illustrated Guide to the Leopard 1 Main Battle Tank. During the Cold War, the Leopard ranked among the most important main battle tanks in NATO's arsenal. The Leopard 1 was the first main battle tank of the post-war era to be independently developed and produced in West Germany. Work on this tank type began as early as the early 1950s at Porsche System-Engineering Ltd. In 1965, the Leopard entered service with the Bundeswehr. Since then, more than 6,000 units of the Leopard have been manufacturedin numerous variants and stages of modernization, in both armed and unarmed configurations. Beyond Germany (where it remained in service until 2003), this tank type was also adopted as a main battle tank by several other major armed forces, including those of Italy, Australia, and Turkey. Throughout the Cold Warand beyondthe tank represented a key weapon in the NATO arsenal. This volume begins with an account of the development, procurement, and production history that led to the creation of the Leopard. Subsequently, the author details the tank's major modifications and variants, covering both German and foreign service. Finally, the reader is presented with a detailed, component-by-component technical description of this tank type. The text is accompanied by more than 200 illustrations, many of which are in color.